The invention concerns a sliding sleeve for storage of samples under sterile conditions, particularly at low temperatures.
Sliding sleeves consist of an inner and an outer cylindrical sleeve, which may be slid into each other at the openings. The interior space of the sliding sleeves pushed into each other is protected against particulate air-carried contamination. For this reason, it has long been used for items that must be packaged under sterile conditions. Recently, they have also been used in cryobanks. In these cryobanks, customers can have any sample preserved by means of liquid nitrogen for any length of time. Primarily, this applies to biological material which has unlimited storage life only at the low temperatures of the liquid nitrogen, such as, for instance, genetic material of rare species of animals and plants, rare blood groups, and small human organ parts. However, technical and chemical materials can also be stored in this manner, for instance, flavor and fragrance materials which cannot yet be fully comprehended analytically.
Since, in many cases, these samples constitute irreplacable materials, the clients frequently desire to protect the sliding sleeves from being opened without authorization.